“You write with ease to show your breeding,
But easy writing's curst hard reading.”

— Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Clio's Protest (1819).

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Richard Brinsley Sheridan 58

Irish-British politician, playwright and writer 1751–1816

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“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”

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Also attributed to Ernest Hemingway and others; the earliest definite occurrence of this yet found in research for Wikiquote is by Maya Angelou, who stated it in Conversations With Maya Angelou (1989) edited by Jeffrey M. Elliot:
I think it's Alexander Pope who says, "Easy writing is damn hard reading," and vice versa, easy reading is damn hard writing
The statement she referred to is most probably:
You write with ease, to show your breeding,
But easy writing's curst hard reading
Clio's Protest, or the Picture Varnished (written 1771, published 1819) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Disputed

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